Bloomberg (10/18/12) Shobhana Chandra

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits increased by 46,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000 in the week of Oct. 7-13, the U.S. Department of Labor Department said today, erasing the sharp drop from the prior week. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise in claims to 365,000. Claims had fallen two weeks ago to a four-year low, but the decline mainly stemmed from a statistical quirk in the data that often happens at the end of a quarter and it was not reflective of a rapidly improving labor market. Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 342,000 from an original reading of 339,000, based on more complete data collected at the state level. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, edged up by 750 to 365,500.

Wall Street Journal (10/18/12) Robbie Whelan

Residential construction picked up momentum in September and now is running at its highest level since 2008, a turn that could have a positive effect on the jobs market and the broader U.S. economy. Builders started work on new houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 units last month, the U.S. Commerce Department reports, up 15% from August and 34.8% from September a year ago, far exceeding economists’ expectations.

Many economists believe that the rise in construction, if sustained, could boost job creation and economic growth. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that each home built generates three full-time jobs and $90,000 in new tax revenue. “The path between here and when we get to a sustainable pace of home building, should add, cumulatively, up to two percentage points” to the nation’s gross domestic product, says Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase.

The recent growth in residential building “gives some hope in the coming months for more construction jobs,” said Anika Khan, a senior economist with Wells Fargo. “A lot of construction workers are the ones who have been discouraged and underemployed, on the sidelines. If these particular workers find work, it will have a big overall economic impact, because it will boost wage and salary growth and income growth.”

USA Today (10/18/12) Paul Davidson

The U.S. Department of Labor reports a jump in payrolls by 578,000 to 35.2 million over the last six months for those with an associate’s degree or some college, while the gain for those with a bachelor’s or higher degree was only 314,000 to 46.5 million. It appears that midskill jobs lost during the recession are on the rebound, including computerized factory machine operators, heating and air conditioning repair people, X-ray technicians, medical record specialists, and low- to mid-level managers. Skilled workers who can be trained quickly also are in high demand. However, there have been few gains in employment over the past two years for those with a high school diploma or less.